A common question we get asked is about the best way to watch UK TV from your house in Turkey. With this in mind, we asked Neil, who manages UK TV Access to write up a quick article summarising the options available, without requiring a 3m Satellite dish!

First, some history... Currently UK TV licensing dictates that only people resident in the UK can view TV stations online, hence if you are outside the UK, you will get an error, and the "stream" will not play. In case you're wondering, when your computer is connected to the internet your connection is given a unique number (or IP address), computer systems can use this IP address to detect the rough location of your computer (to give you an idea, of how this works, visit the link HERE).

There are various ways to get around this location detection, and provide a working solution. The legalities of such solutions will not be discussed here, we simply wish to inform you of what's available.

There are basically just three ways to watch UK TV online from abroad;

1. Placeshifting; Duplicating a private UK TV signal from your house in the UK to a remote location
2. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks); Connecting to the Internet via a secure UK location
3. Web Proxies; Re-directing selective web traffic via a UK location

Of course - each option has different advantages and disadvantages.

Whichever solution you look at there are two important things to remember:

1. All these solutions provide the same result - watching UK TV channels on your computer screen. They all require a PC with connection to the internet, and a good screen to watch (or connect your laptop up to your LCD TV screen for best results).
2. Watching live or recorded TV requires lots of internet "bandwidth". If you are thinking of regularly watching TV programs in this manner, please make sure you have an unlimited internet package and a reasonably fast connection.

1. Placeshifting

Before the BBC and other UK broadcasters put their TV output online, the only way to watch TV at a remote location was by a technology that became known as placeshifting. This involves the use of a hardware device that connects to an aerial or video source (e.g. your TV in the UK) and produces a digital output that that can be sent over an internet connection (e.g. to your computer in Turkey).

The market leaders in this field are Slingbox and prices for Slingboxes start at around £100 pounds.

Positives:

• A lot more channels are available - you watch the exact same channels that you normally watch in the UK

Negatives:

• You need to have a TV setup in the UK with a good internet connection.
• Equipment in the UK will need to be left switched on.
• It uses a lot of bandwidth with your connection in the UK
  Normal UK broadband upload speeds are about 300kbps (even if you have a superfast download speed). This ultimately will mean that the picture quality will be very low.
• Unless you have an advanced setup in the UK, this only works with live TV (no catchup) so if you forget to record a programme, it will be gone forever.

It's worth noting that many of the negatives can be solved by using a company to provide the UK send of the service. There are a few companies around (e.g. TheTelly.net), which host their own slingboxes so you don't need to worry about the UK setup, although obviously there is a charge.

2. VPN - Virtual Private Network

The second way to watch UK TV online is by using a VPN (Virtual Private Network). With this method you watch UK TV via the TV companies' websites e.g. BBC, ITV etc... and make use of their "on-demand" watch-anytime services, such as the BBC iPlayer.

A VPN creates a secure network between your computer in Turkey and a computer network in the UK through which all of your internet traffic is sent. Hence any website which detects your location detects that you are in the UK.

Positives:

• You can watch any UK TV channel who broadcast either a live feed or their recorded services over the internet.
• Setup is very simple.
• Connections are robust and secure

Negatives:

• Security – a VPN is a two-way connection, and while you are connected to the VPN, all your internet traffic will go via the VPN.  For extra peace of mind, make sure you know who is providing the service, and disconnect from the VPN when using the Internet for sensitive things like credit card transactions.
• You can’t surf between channels. Each channel has it’s own website (and each functions a little differently), so you need to bookmark the pages or open more than one browser window.

3. Web Proxy Servers

The third and final way to watch UK TV online from abroad is by the use of a proxy server.

Fundamentally, proxy servers work in a similar manner to VPNs - they redirect your internet traffic via a UK computer. However they can be configured to be more selective about which traffic gets redirected. However, proxies require a little more setup and a little 'tinkering'.

Positives:

• You can watch any UK TV channel who broadcast either a live feed, or their recorded services over the internet.
• Services can be cheaper, and sometimes free (although don't expect much from the free services as they are often oversubscribed and very slow; or get closed down quickly!)

Negatives:

• All your web browser traffic will go via the proxy, so day-to-day browsing may be a little slower.
• You can’t surf between channels. Each channel has it’s own website (and each functions a little differently), so you need to bookmark the pages or open more than one browser window.

 

Recommendation

It's difficult to recommend the best solution, however the VPN is one of the most reliable options, with an easy setup procedure. Costs begin from as little as £4 a month.

Here are some providers of UK VPN services:

UK TV Access around 10TL per month
VPNUK around 16 TL per month
Internet Cloaker around 20TL per month

Whichever option you chose, please ensure that they offer a refund policy - if the service doesn't work as you expect, you should get a refund. Make sure that they also have clear setup instructions and offer support services in case you have problems setting up.